When push comes to shove, one turns an innovator. Or how else could one view the creative ingenuity of these people.
Though Centre declared that Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 would not be legal tender any more from midnight on Wednesday, it left some time-window. Cashing in on this, Hotel Saravana Bhavan, a chain of hotels head-quartered in Chennai, having 36 branches across the state, has opted to accept Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes from its customer.
The hotel’s creative in-charge K. Kamalakannan, said: “We are accepting the notes. We will exchange them when the banks open doors,’’ he said.
There is an hitch, however. Tendering change has proved a big challenge for the hotel.
Interesting solutionCouple of its customers hit upon an interesting solution for this predicament. Though they are unknown to each other, they chose to share their bills. One of them paid the combined bill, and the other promised him to do an online recharge of his portion!
Using credit card to pay your coffee bill! Not an Indian practice. And, certainly unheard of in Chennai. Have coffee at a Sangeetha restaurant in city and settle your bill through credit card. A small amount but a significant giant movement towards cashless society!
C. Sivasankaran-promoted nascent taxi hailing company UTOO Customer said it would accept Rs.500 notes but won’t tender change. Instead, it said it would give a credit note, which a customer could use for another trip! “To ease your travel, we will accept account payee cheques as mode of payments,’’ it said.
Even an IOU (I owe you) letter will do, said Mr. Sivasankaran. Tata to an old order, hail the new change!
Well, this bank has decided to reward anybody who embraces change. Indusind Bank said it would offer 2X reward points to its customers who use credit cards to transact. A well-designed change story, a rewarding one at that!
(With inputs from Sangeetha Kandavel and Sanjay Vijayakumar)
